An Old Bicycle Poem by LLM Mbatha

Look! How it leans against the wall!
Picking up dust, dropping down rust
It used to be his legs of steel
To school, to church, to his girl’s house
Through shine and rain
One day he came home looking sad
I noticed on his shirt was a stain of mud
Some grass on his shaved head
I was later made to understand
about his little accident
He had earlier hit a rock and fell!
That day, that whole night
The steel frame lay flat on the floor
Out the door
But at 5: 00 am the next morning
It was his noise that woke me up
Making shine the steel
And black the rubber
Ready to hit the road again!
Now it leans, all day, against the wall…